Jon Heyman has the breakdown of Francisco Liriano’s contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
liriano: $2M sign bonus $11M in '15, $13M in '16, $13M in '17. award bonuses (incl high 325K for cy young) #bucs #bucks
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 15, 2014
I’ve updated the 2015 payroll page with the new totals. The big change was bumping Liriano down from $13 M in 2015, and adding his signing bonus, which I’m guessing is spread out over the three years, just like every other bonus.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Well I am officially retiring “The Bucs need to spend more to compete” line – think the payroll is in line with the rest of the division – once you factor in the nice surplus value they have in Cutch and Marte – low end – but in line.
Would still like to see a right hand bat with some power on the bench – looks like that will have to come in a trade since nothing on the FA board is appealing. Chase Headly [switch hitter] was the last interesting option – I was never a big fan – but his defense at third would have allowed Jay-Hay to move to second and Walker to first. But the price for Headly was way too high – and the Bucs seem fully committed to the Pedro at first experiment.
The Anderson signing would seem to really screw up the chances of getting EV back – he should be able to find a taker for 2 to 3 years at $12M AAV now…
The interesting comparison that I will be tracking over the next few years is McCarthy vs Liriano. I think the Bucs got the better deal – but I would have been ok if they had turned to McCarthy.
Listening to MLB Radio on 209 and a writer was talking about the 5 teams who did well during the Winter Meetings – Pirates #3 because they had two issues to resolve and took care of both of them in Cervelli at Catcher, and Liriano for a price nobody expected was possible. Very impressed with the way that the Pirates take care of issues. In 2012 and 2013 Pedro hit 30 and 36 HR’s then backed up in 2014. If he regains his stroke, the Pirates can set the table for a trade with big prospect returns.
The Dodgers just paid Brett Anderson 10 million for 1 year. Unreal!!!!
The Dodgers….the new Yanks of the NL…bad contracts everywhere!! Woohoo!
When the Dodgers start gambling $10 million/year on injury-prone reclamation projects, what’s gonna be left for us little guys?
That makes Volquez worth 35 million for 1 year!
Well, at least $11 million 🙂
Payroll standing at roughly $88m leaves them good room to take on a contract or two mid-year. Smart planning and execution.
Frank is a very lucky guy . He should have a very Merry Christmas .
Merry Christmas Mr. Liriano
If Liriano gets the 325 for Cy Young, that would make this contract a steal.
If he is in the running it makes this contract a steal!
Yeah. You’d think something like that would be worth at least a million. Which would still be a steal.